WEDNESDAY,APRIL23,2003
NEWS
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN = 7A
Freshman takes helm of dance organization
By Megan Hickerson mhickerson@kansan.com Kansan staff writer
Hannah Franko wasn't allowed to dance at her small Christian high school in Pennsylvania — but she's making up for it now.
The Gilbert, Pa., freshman is the Ballroom Dance Club president at the University of Kansas.
"I had never danced a step before I came to KU," Franko said.
After a friend dragged her to a dance practice last semester, Frankojoined the club and began to learn the steps. Club members delegated her president about two weeks ago.
"It was a shock at first that a freshman was able to take charge," she said. "My friend actually quit the club and joined the lacrosse team."
The club, which has existed for 15 years, meets every Sunday in the Kansas Union Ballroom to practice, and members have weekly professional dance lessons at the Walters Dance Studio in Kansas
City, Kan. Franko and the other 20 club members have learned two types of dancing, Latin and smooth dancing. Latin dancing includes salsa, chacha and the meringue, and smooth dancing includes dances such as the waltz, the tango and the foxtrot.
"The tango is my favorite," Franko said. "It's really straightforward and direct."
Max Wick, McPherson sophomore and member of the club said he appreciated the more traditional dancing styles.
"I love the waltz," Wick said. "It's so graceful and everyone knows the basics. There's so much technique involved."
Although there are a few local restaurants and bars that offer Latin dancing in Lawrence, there are no places in Lawrence that offer smooth dancing.
"La Tasca has a salsa band once a week, but I think I'll have to wait for a wedding to practice my smooth dancing," Franko said.
Membership is $25 a year, and
"It was a shock at first that a freshman was able to take charge, My friend actually quit the club and joined the lacrosse team."
Hannah Franko Gilbert, Pa., freshman
this includes all private dance lessons. Although the club has yet to compete with other schools, Franko and other members hope to hold competitions and balls next fall.
The club welcomes anyone who is interested in ballroom dancing. While traditional ball gowns and tuxedos are left behind, most club members prefer to dance barefoot.
"No uniform is required —but you have to wear clothes," Franko said.
Aaron Showalter/Kansan
- Edited by Leah Shaffer
Bogdan Pathak, Albuquerque, N.M., graduate student, and Hannah Franko, Gilbert, Pa., freshman, take advantage of last night's Swing Night at Ecumenical Christian Ministries, 1204 Oread Ave., to show off what they learned in the Ballroom Dance Club. Franko, the club's president, said the people were the best part of participating in the dance group.
Legislators grapple with larger than expected state deficit
The Associated Press
TOPEKA — Kansas now appears headed for a $254 million budget deficit in the next fiscal year, a team of economic forecasters said yesterday in handing legislators a tougher chore than earlier thought.
The new fiscal forecast adds $29 million to the previously anticipated difference between revenue and budgeted spending in the 2004 fiscal year, which starts July 1.
Gov. Kathleen Sebelius has already signed a $10 billion budget for fiscal 2004, which legislators had drafted and passed based on a
March revenue prediction calculated by the governor's aides.
Erasing the deficit is legislators' main task when they return April 30 from an extended recess.
Sebelius has been discussing budget issues with legislative leaders this week and was relieved that the latest revenue forecast was not worse, according to her spokeswoman, Nicole Corcoran-Basso.
The forecasting team is made
up of state officials, legislative staff and university economists who meet twice a year to study trends and issue official predictions on which budget decisions are based. The mid-April outlook takes into account tax receipts.
Yesterday's report reflects economists' belief that the Kansas economy continues a slow recovery from a slump that started before the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.
The fresh forecast shows total revenue collections of $4.23 billion in the current fiscal year, or $14.9 million less than was predicted in March. General revenue in fiscal 2004 is now expected to total $4.39 billion, or $8.6 million less than earlier thought.
If those forecasts are borne out, general revenue would rise next year by 3.7 percent from this year an increase that state Budget Director Duane Goossen called below average.
The deficit prediction also assumes a $5.5 million net rise in social services costs next year.
Sebelius has proposed to cover the deficit by issuing bonds, accelerating some tax collections and expanding legalized gambling
measures generally rejected by the Republican-led Legislature.
Republicans have proposed to balance revenue and spending partly by postponing a scheduled June payment of state aid to public schools until the new fiscal year starts in July. The GOP also proposes to pay some tax refunds more slowly next year.
Senate President Dave Kerr (R-Hutchinson), called the latest fiscal forecast "just a smidgeon worse" than the earlier outlook.
House Speaker Doug Mays (R-Topeka) saw the new numbers as good news.
"It could have been so much worse." Mays said.
Estimators predicted that personal income tax revenues would grow by 3.7 percent in fiscal 2004 and that corporate income tax revenues would remain steady.
But Rep. Rocky Nichols, D-Topeka, who serves on the House Appropriations Committee, said the forecast for revenue growth next year was too optimistic given Kansas' current economic picture.
"The aviation sector is still sucking air," Nichols said. "The farm economy is still the pits."
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THURSDAY: BISEXUALITY 101:ROBYN OCHS 7:30 PM Malott Room, Kansas Union
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COMEDIAN: DEIDRE SULLIVAN 8:00 PM Hawk's Nest, Kansas Union
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